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Head-shrinker

noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A psychiatrist or psychotherapist; a shrink. slang

    "DIESEL: In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home. ACTION: Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived. DIESEL: So take him to a headshrinker."

  2. 2
    a savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies wordnet
  3. 3
    One who shrinks heads, as previously done by some Amazon tribes. literally

    "I listened to the sculptor of Dead Dad give an interview to a European television station while he crouched by the shrunken corpse of his own creation, a huge technical advance over the headshrinkers of New Guinea."

  4. 4
    a physician who specializes in psychiatry wordnet

Etymology

Originally US, probably by reference to slang terms like “swelled head” for someone with delusions of grandeur; a psychiatrist would remove such delusions, thus figuratively shrinking the patient's swelled head.

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